WEBVTT - Festivus 2024 0:00:01.280 --> 0:00:04.720 Really now, really. 0:00:06.680 --> 0:00:12.000 Really really hello, and welcome to really No Really with Jason, 0:00:12.039 --> 0:00:14.840 Alexander and Peter Tilden, who want you to know that 0:00:14.960 --> 0:00:18.360 subscribing to our show would make a perfect holiday gift. 0:00:18.760 --> 0:00:20.760 Coincidentally enough, this episode is. 0:00:20.760 --> 0:00:24.040 All about the holidays and why so many families celebrate 0:00:24.239 --> 0:00:29.040 with extremely odd and bizarre holiday traditions. Perhaps the most 0:00:29.120 --> 0:00:33.720 famous bizarre holiday tradition is the celebration of Festivus from 0:00:33.720 --> 0:00:37.519 the television show Seinfeld, with which I believe Jason has 0:00:37.560 --> 0:00:41.440 some sort of passing acquaintance. The actual Festivus was created 0:00:41.440 --> 0:00:45.720 by Seinfeld writer Dan O'Keefe's father, and today Dan speaks 0:00:45.760 --> 0:00:49.120 about the true origin of the Festivus poll, the annual 0:00:49.159 --> 0:00:52.879 airing of grievances and the demonstration of feats of strength. 0:00:53.320 --> 0:00:57.120 He also reveals the many horrors of the real life celebration. 0:00:57.480 --> 0:01:00.440 So happy holidays, and here's Jason than Peter. 0:01:03.040 --> 0:01:07.360 It's hard to believe that the year has passed since 0:01:07.400 --> 0:01:09.280 our last gathering before. 0:01:10.480 --> 0:01:17.959 The Old Fire plaka Minora whatever anybody else, And this 0:01:18.040 --> 0:01:21.040 is our annual holiday episode, which is our Festivus episode 0:01:21.080 --> 0:01:24.240 because of course of Seinfeld, and we got Dan O'Keeffe 0:01:24.280 --> 0:01:27.480 on Dan if you didn't hear it last year, Dane O'Keefe, 0:01:27.880 --> 0:01:30.600 his family actually is the family that his. 0:01:30.720 --> 0:01:35.480 Father created the Festivus holiday, which for Dan was not 0:01:35.560 --> 0:01:36.399 a happy occasion. 0:01:36.480 --> 0:01:38.480 No, and you'll find out why in just a moment. 0:01:38.760 --> 0:01:41.720 And he when Dan was a writer on Seinfeld, he 0:01:42.080 --> 0:01:44.399 happened to mention it in the writer's room and that 0:01:44.600 --> 0:01:48.160 was not a thing you do unless you want. He 0:01:48.280 --> 0:01:50.600 was not initially thrilled that the other writers went, oh, 0:01:50.640 --> 0:01:55.559 this is a thing, but it is his his true 0:01:55.600 --> 0:02:00.080 life family celebration was the genesis of our Festivus. 0:01:59.160 --> 0:02:03.160 But not identical to what they're doing and bizarre, more 0:02:03.320 --> 0:02:06.760 much more bizarre. Yeah, so if they showed that on yeah, 0:02:07.520 --> 0:02:10.760 I don't think it would be as funny. When was 0:02:10.800 --> 0:02:13.600 the first twenty years ago? Did the first episode are? 0:02:13.960 --> 0:02:16.320 I couldn't, but people celebrated people by pauls. 0:02:16.600 --> 0:02:18.359 I mean we did the show basically from ninety to 0:02:18.480 --> 0:02:20.760 ninety nine, so it's about halfway through. 0:02:20.800 --> 0:02:23.160 So maybe it's amazing how many it's amazing how many 0:02:23.240 --> 0:02:23.960 years it took off. 0:02:24.120 --> 0:02:27.560 Ben and Jerry's made an ice cream for it. I 0:02:27.600 --> 0:02:31.720 mean it it is, it is huge. It's a it's 0:02:31.760 --> 0:02:32.560 a celebrated. 0:02:32.680 --> 0:02:34.880 And by the way, as I recall, in this episode, 0:02:35.160 --> 0:02:38.040 we discussed that too, why it became huge, and why 0:02:38.120 --> 0:02:42.640 people create stuff for their family, whether it's bizarre or not, 0:02:42.840 --> 0:02:44.440 whether the foods they eat or things they choose a 0:02:44.440 --> 0:02:47.720 holiday time, it actually creates the culture of that family. 0:02:47.919 --> 0:02:51.440 Well, we for instance, in the Alexander family, we have 0:02:51.520 --> 0:02:55.000 Thanksgiving and then the next day it's called the Turkey Games, 0:02:55.680 --> 0:02:59.200 where we invite my daughter in law's family over since 0:02:59.200 --> 0:03:02.200 they're in town anyway, and we have like a little 0:03:02.240 --> 0:03:06.519 Olympics of silly things, and there's a there's little statues 0:03:06.520 --> 0:03:08.160 that you win for the events, and then we eat 0:03:08.200 --> 0:03:09.079 all the left effisodes. 0:03:09.120 --> 0:03:12.600 But and that becomes your family culture. I mean, it's 0:03:12.680 --> 0:03:15.160 more than just stilly in things. It's about getting together 0:03:15.280 --> 0:03:18.600 and doing it. Remember when we are creating all that 0:03:18.639 --> 0:03:20.600 kinds of stuff. So a lot of families are bizarre 0:03:21.160 --> 0:03:23.920 family cultures. A lot of families have chosen not to 0:03:23.919 --> 0:03:27.079 do the Christmas or Hanka thing or Kwanza because they 0:03:27.240 --> 0:03:29.680 like Festivus. So let's get into it. And then we've 0:03:29.720 --> 0:03:33.120 got an additional bonus, a little surprise at the very end. 0:03:33.160 --> 0:03:35.360 Something brand every year, we're going to tack on something 0:03:35.400 --> 0:03:38.280 new and important, and we've got a very huge talent 0:03:39.840 --> 0:03:42.560 at the end of this episode who has done a 0:03:42.560 --> 0:03:44.680 song for us. So you I think you want to 0:03:44.680 --> 0:03:46.760 go to hang around for this, but right now, in. 0:03:46.640 --> 0:03:50.120 The meantime, let's look back and remember with Dan O'Keefe 0:03:50.960 --> 0:03:57.200 our festival, the origins of festivalus go. It's holiday time 0:03:57.400 --> 0:04:01.720 and as you know, I am associated with a particular holiday. 0:04:02.320 --> 0:04:05.040 But what's interesting and are really that kicks it off 0:04:05.120 --> 0:04:08.600 is you. You shared with me that your research has 0:04:08.640 --> 0:04:11.520 shown that over twenty percent of people, over twenty percent 0:04:11.520 --> 0:04:15.800 of people say that their families have bizarre. 0:04:15.360 --> 0:04:19.360 Bizarre, unique holiday traditions, traditions, right, So. 0:04:19.320 --> 0:04:22.880 That led us to of course the most holiday, that 0:04:23.040 --> 0:04:25.200 is the most famous and the most bizarre, is made 0:04:25.240 --> 0:04:28.839 famous on my former show Seinfeld is Christmas. 0:04:28.839 --> 0:04:29.440 There's Honka. 0:04:29.520 --> 0:04:33.040 That's Festive Us, the festival for the rest of Us, 0:04:33.400 --> 0:04:38.320 which was an actual holiday created by the father of 0:04:38.400 --> 0:04:40.880 the man who authored the episode, and that man is, 0:04:40.960 --> 0:04:43.960 of course, mister Dan O'Keefe's here with us today. Dan's 0:04:44.000 --> 0:04:46.800 a producer and a writer known for a variety of 0:04:46.800 --> 0:04:49.719 things Beavis and butt Head, Space Force, Veep, Silicon Valley 0:04:49.800 --> 0:04:53.279 Drew Carrie Show, and of course, most notably our Festivus 0:04:53.400 --> 0:04:58.640 episode on Seinfeld and I am so delighted, even though 0:04:58.960 --> 0:05:01.240 well I haven't seen a talk do in probably twenty years. 0:05:01.440 --> 0:05:03.120 Dan, welcome to the show, sir. 0:05:03.800 --> 0:05:06.200 Thank you, Jason. I'm flattered to me invited on And 0:05:06.560 --> 0:05:08.200 to be fair, that was kind of close to the 0:05:08.400 --> 0:05:09.080 festivus of it. 0:05:09.400 --> 0:05:11.839 Yeah, people who do not know the argent, we'll find 0:05:11.880 --> 0:05:15.440 out the argent. I did laugh when I that you 0:05:15.520 --> 0:05:18.520 were actually invited on different times to people's houses over 0:05:18.560 --> 0:05:22.680 the holidays who were actually observing a form of festivus 0:05:22.760 --> 0:05:25.480 and didn't know that it was from your family. 0:05:26.520 --> 0:05:28.480 That has happened on a number of occasions. I am 0:05:28.600 --> 0:05:32.120 so far unanimous in my streak of saying no thank you. 0:05:32.680 --> 0:05:36.520 I'm sure I hope they had a lovely time, but wow, wow, yeah, 0:05:36.520 --> 0:05:37.560 that's happened a number of times. 0:05:37.600 --> 0:05:40.280 Wow. So the origin is not what people think right 0:05:40.640 --> 0:05:42.720 the way we laid it out on the show. 0:05:43.400 --> 0:05:46.520 I guess the origins of those ideas may be from 0:05:46.640 --> 0:05:49.400 what you and your dad to your family created. But 0:05:49.480 --> 0:05:52.400 what can you walk us through for people that don't 0:05:52.520 --> 0:05:56.520 know what your organic Festivus was? 0:05:58.040 --> 0:06:02.240 My organic Festivus was a living hell on earth that 0:06:02.440 --> 0:06:07.080 appeared at random throughout the year at an unspecified date. 0:06:07.400 --> 0:06:09.560 It didn't have It wasn't really December twenty thirty. It 0:06:09.600 --> 0:06:13.320 was whenever my father felt like it. One year there 0:06:13.320 --> 0:06:17.880 were none, one year there were two. And it arose 0:06:17.960 --> 0:06:20.000 out of the fact that my dad was basically a 0:06:20.120 --> 0:06:24.039 more feral Frank Costanza who spent thirty forty fifty years 0:06:24.120 --> 0:06:28.239 desperately trying to turn himself into Fraser Crane. He escaped 0:06:28.279 --> 0:06:31.080 from Jersey the Greenville ward of Jersey City, which at 0:06:31.080 --> 0:06:33.440 the time was sort of like a you know, a Southey. 0:06:33.720 --> 0:06:35.160 And he was the first in his family to go 0:06:35.200 --> 0:06:36.680 to college, and I think one of the first to 0:06:37.440 --> 0:06:40.120 finish high school, and got rid of his accident at 0:06:40.160 --> 0:06:42.880 Oxford and just decided to wash the stink of Jersey 0:06:42.920 --> 0:06:46.279 off himself with excessive amounts of education, including an obsession 0:06:46.320 --> 0:06:51.280 with the plays of Samuel Beckett who Wow, There's a lot, 0:06:51.360 --> 0:06:54.400 There's a lot, Wow Wow. Including and on his first 0:06:54.520 --> 0:06:56.280 date with my mother, he lent her a copy of 0:06:56.320 --> 0:06:58.400 the play Craps Last Tape. Now, when the play Craps 0:06:58.480 --> 0:07:01.280 Last Tape, it's an old man listening to you're a 0:07:01.480 --> 0:07:02.160 song and dance man. 0:07:02.120 --> 0:07:04.640 You're you're talking my language. Go ahead. 0:07:05.480 --> 0:07:08.040 An old man listening to tape recordings of a slightly 0:07:08.120 --> 0:07:11.040 younger man listening to recordings of a slightly younger man. 0:07:11.400 --> 0:07:14.880 So the original Festivus was indeed an airing of grievances, 0:07:14.960 --> 0:07:17.200 but it was an area of grievances in which my 0:07:17.320 --> 0:07:19.920 brothers and I were made to listen to recordings of 0:07:20.000 --> 0:07:23.680 my father complaining the year before, while listening to recordings 0:07:23.720 --> 0:07:26.600 of my father complaining the year before, and so on 0:07:26.760 --> 0:07:29.119 and so on in a series of Russian nesting dolls. 0:07:30.920 --> 0:07:37.840 It was occasionally exhilarating. Most often there was There was 0:07:37.880 --> 0:07:40.000 a tremendous amount of liquor involved. I mean it was 0:07:40.160 --> 0:07:42.960 just in my Later in my life, my dad lost 0:07:43.040 --> 0:07:46.400 fifty five pounds by switching to light beer and started 0:07:46.480 --> 0:07:49.320 wearing suits from the fifties that fit him again. And 0:07:49.440 --> 0:07:51.600 it was like he dressed like Kramer. He was wearing 0:07:51.640 --> 0:07:55.280 these like ancient hipster vintage jobs. It was crazy, And 0:07:55.640 --> 0:07:58.400 it was my father drunkenly complaining into a tape recorder 0:07:58.480 --> 0:08:04.000 about the corrosive effect of internal reader's digest politics, about 0:08:04.080 --> 0:08:06.400 how we had disappointed him during the year about how 0:08:06.440 --> 0:08:09.240 my mother did not keep a clean house, about how 0:08:09.280 --> 0:08:11.800 his relatives were awful, which was actually kind of you know, 0:08:11.920 --> 0:08:15.720 not always incorrect. There was a lot of strange music 0:08:15.800 --> 0:08:20.560 that was played. He played this record containing songs of 0:08:20.560 --> 0:08:25.920 the Irish Republican Army, but also weird the strange novelty 0:08:26.160 --> 0:08:29.960 pop records from Germany and Italy from like the forties, fifties, 0:08:30.040 --> 0:08:33.000 and sixties. They actually there's an Italian version of Alvin 0:08:33.040 --> 0:08:35.080 and the Chipmunks. That's the most terrifying thing I've ever 0:08:35.120 --> 0:08:40.160 heard in my life. The Chipmunks and the Irish rebels 0:08:40.200 --> 0:08:43.280 being hanged by the British, and the strange German accordion 0:08:43.520 --> 0:08:47.000 stuff and all over that a litany of complaints, and 0:08:47.040 --> 0:08:49.160 then he would encourage us to complain ourselves, and then 0:08:49.200 --> 0:08:50.839 when we complained too much, you would complain that we 0:08:50.920 --> 0:08:53.800 were complaining too much. It was it was a combination 0:08:54.040 --> 0:08:57.240 of alcoholism and borderline child endangerment that should have had 0:08:57.280 --> 0:08:59.439 the New York States takes away and raised us in 0:08:59.520 --> 0:09:03.720 a facility, But at the time, you know, child Protective 0:09:03.760 --> 0:09:06.079 Services just was not not up this enough in the 0:09:06.120 --> 0:09:09.160 New York area. So, uh, there you have it. 0:09:09.360 --> 0:09:12.880 So wait, that's your family. You brother would cry, You 0:09:12.880 --> 0:09:14.640 would cry, I mean it was. It was horrifying. And 0:09:14.720 --> 0:09:17.040 also had a clock nailed in a bag to the 0:09:17.120 --> 0:09:19.360 wall rather than a Paul right best of his. 0:09:19.480 --> 0:09:21.800 Poll is a By the way, I should mention I 0:09:21.880 --> 0:09:24.599 didn't author the entire episode. I wrote it along with 0:09:24.679 --> 0:09:26.760 Jeff Schaffer and aleck Berg, who arguably wrote some of 0:09:26.800 --> 0:09:29.880 the better stuff. But the symbol is not a pole. 0:09:30.160 --> 0:09:32.959 That was a Shaefer joke. The real symbol of the 0:09:33.040 --> 0:09:36.839 holiday was my father took an ancient rusted alarm clock, 0:09:37.120 --> 0:09:40.319 put it in like a burlapsed sack, and then nailed 0:09:40.360 --> 0:09:43.040 it to the wall. And I don't know why he 0:09:43.200 --> 0:09:46.640 never told you represent He would always say the same thing, 0:09:46.800 --> 0:09:49.599 that's not for you to know. And I don't know 0:09:49.640 --> 0:09:52.160 what it means, and I still to this day, and 0:09:52.400 --> 0:09:55.640 something about the evanescence of time, of life, of youth. 0:09:56.320 --> 0:09:58.040 I don't know. I know that it was a wedding 0:09:58.080 --> 0:09:59.880 present that he and my mom got, so maybe it's 0:09:59.920 --> 0:10:01.839 some think about their marriage. I don't even want to know. 0:10:02.000 --> 0:10:04.559 But oh there was. By the way, another symbol of 0:10:04.840 --> 0:10:09.120 Festivus was a sign hand letter that read fascism that 0:10:09.240 --> 0:10:11.720 my father would tape to the wall. He wouldn't nail 0:10:11.800 --> 0:10:14.520 that to the wall. But the thing is that sign 0:10:14.720 --> 0:10:17.839 also came out sometimes at Thanksgiving and sometimes at christ Wow. 0:10:17.920 --> 0:10:21.360 Wow, So I read that you said your dad was 0:10:21.360 --> 0:10:23.640 an undiagnosed bipolar also at the time. 0:10:23.800 --> 0:10:25.240 Was this at least so was this. 0:10:26.720 --> 0:10:30.360 Was there joy ever? Or was this always the storm 0:10:30.400 --> 0:10:32.280 that was brewing underneath for your dad? 0:10:33.240 --> 0:10:37.880 It was incredibly charismatic and brilliant. Brilliant man. I mean 0:10:37.920 --> 0:10:40.880 the New York Times compared his book, his thousand page 0:10:41.160 --> 0:10:45.080 unified field Theory of Anthropology, psychology and sociology. He could 0:10:45.160 --> 0:10:47.600 compare it to Mark Starwin and Freud in their review, 0:10:48.400 --> 0:10:51.280 although not only people in Japan read it, but for 0:10:51.400 --> 0:10:55.200 some reason. But yeah, it was terrifying, but there were 0:10:55.280 --> 0:10:58.400 it was interspersed with moments of joy. He was very funny. 0:10:58.480 --> 0:11:00.800 He made it funny while it was happening. But for 0:11:00.920 --> 0:11:05.839 the most part it was It was mostly like they say, 0:11:05.920 --> 0:11:08.280 war is mostly boring, with moments of terror, but the 0:11:08.440 --> 0:11:11.280 occasionally it's fun damn. 0:11:12.000 --> 0:11:13.720 And you didn't want this out there that the story 0:11:13.800 --> 0:11:16.640 is your brother Mark right still de means accidentally. 0:11:17.920 --> 0:11:20.280 We came to the realization very young. If you go 0:11:20.360 --> 0:11:23.040 to school, elementary school and say, hey, we had festivusts 0:11:23.040 --> 0:11:25.280 this weekend. When when did you have it? People will 0:11:25.320 --> 0:11:27.280 look at you and say excuse me, and it will 0:11:27.360 --> 0:11:29.679 you will immediately be put on a more rigorous beating schedule. 0:11:30.040 --> 0:11:32.679 So we had a bowet of silence that was semi 0:11:32.800 --> 0:11:35.520 formally taken and I had literally blocked it out of 0:11:35.600 --> 0:11:39.360 my mind. And then Mark goes and opens his yap 0:11:39.440 --> 0:11:42.400 at a party that Jeff Jay for, aleck Berg, Dave Mandel, 0:11:42.480 --> 0:11:44.640 some of the executive producers along with Jerry the final 0:11:44.720 --> 0:11:47.000 season of the show. A party they were at and 0:11:47.040 --> 0:11:49.320 they were immediately, excuse me, I want to hear. 0:11:49.280 --> 0:11:49.760 More about this. 0:11:50.040 --> 0:11:53.719 So then I was lured to a diner called Swingers 0:11:53.880 --> 0:11:57.719 On on Beverly and they sort of pinned me down 0:11:57.760 --> 0:11:59.400 in a booth. They sat, you know, around me, so 0:11:59.400 --> 0:12:01.319 I couldn't get out out, and they said we want 0:12:01.360 --> 0:12:04.880 to talk about Festivus and I actually hadn't thought about 0:12:04.880 --> 0:12:07.400 it in years for a reason. I was like, oh, 0:12:08.040 --> 0:12:10.160 how did you hear about that? I'm really sorry you 0:12:10.240 --> 0:12:12.480 had to take up those brain cells with that information. 0:12:12.840 --> 0:12:13.959 And they're like, no, no, we want to put it 0:12:14.000 --> 0:12:15.920 on the show, and I said, no, you really really don't. 0:12:16.160 --> 0:12:18.040 You're making a terrible mistake. 0:12:18.960 --> 0:12:20.560 This show is a perfect thing. 0:12:20.679 --> 0:12:22.880 This is the greatest common the history of television. And 0:12:22.960 --> 0:12:26.679 you want to essentially smear feces on it. You're mad, 0:12:26.920 --> 0:12:29.880 You're mad. Jeff Schaffer, Alec Berg, Dave Mandel. But you know, 0:12:30.200 --> 0:12:32.640 as it turned out, I was dead wrong. Jerry wanted 0:12:32.640 --> 0:12:34.560 to do it, and they were completely right. Now there 0:12:34.640 --> 0:12:37.319 was it turns out there was a version that was 0:12:37.520 --> 0:12:39.800 consumable by a mass audience. I thought that it would 0:12:41.200 --> 0:12:43.760 lead to not good things. 0:12:44.040 --> 0:12:48.959 But and the stuff that was created for the for 0:12:49.080 --> 0:12:52.760 the television version of Festivus, that was all. That was 0:12:52.840 --> 0:12:56.520 all sort of a mutual mind mold right, the whole 0:12:56.600 --> 0:12:58.720 the feats of strength, the airing of grievance is. 0:12:58.760 --> 0:13:04.040 The tereral negativity around it, the Georgia attitude toward it 0:13:04.280 --> 0:13:06.319 is taken from reality because they doesn't want to talk 0:13:06.320 --> 0:13:08.400 about it. What runs when his father brings it up. 0:13:09.800 --> 0:13:13.040 But the specifics of it did change. Now, the airing 0:13:13.080 --> 0:13:16.280 of grievances was the central tenet of the original. Yes, 0:13:16.960 --> 0:13:19.480 but and though there was always the implicit threat of 0:13:19.559 --> 0:13:22.440 violence from my father, there was not actually a wrestling 0:13:23.240 --> 0:13:26.439 of parental wrestling thing. Nor was there a poll that 0:13:26.760 --> 0:13:30.400 did come out of the rest the wait ratio with 0:13:30.440 --> 0:13:36.200 an alec Berg joke. The poll itself was with Schaeffer. 0:13:36.360 --> 0:13:38.319 I think the the twenty third to get a to 0:13:38.400 --> 0:13:40.480 get a head start on Christmas. I think that was Dave. 0:13:41.120 --> 0:13:43.559 People just filled in the blanks to put together a 0:13:43.679 --> 0:13:49.120 more palatable version of this, you know, remake of the 0:13:49.200 --> 0:13:51.319 Mosquito Coast that I lived. 0:13:51.240 --> 0:13:54.199 And do you remember it? So? Do you remember? And 0:13:54.360 --> 0:13:55.760 we want to get into what it felt like writing 0:13:55.800 --> 0:13:57.640 in the writer's room for Signfel, etc. But do you 0:13:57.720 --> 0:14:00.800 remember being there when they shot that episode? What? What? 0:14:01.559 --> 0:14:03.720 What went through your head? And what you thought emotionally 0:14:03.760 --> 0:14:05.880 watching this? What was that weak like for you? 0:14:06.440 --> 0:14:07.760 You know, here we are, It was like an out 0:14:07.760 --> 0:14:09.800 of body experience. And I remember thinking something that I 0:14:09.840 --> 0:14:11.880 hadn't thought since I left for college, which is my 0:14:11.960 --> 0:14:17.000 father might actually physically murder me over this and so 0:14:18.160 --> 0:14:19.600 and I couldn't tell if it was good or not, 0:14:19.760 --> 0:14:22.200 Like it's one of the things where you're right, And 0:14:22.320 --> 0:14:25.800 obviously that happens in shows that are not taken partially 0:14:25.840 --> 0:14:30.120 from your childhood. But in that case, what I was 0:14:30.160 --> 0:14:32.680 hoping was the following I was hoping that. I was 0:14:32.800 --> 0:14:35.600 hoping that Festivus would be left on the editing room floor. 0:14:36.000 --> 0:14:38.440 I thought, look, we have there's a Jerry story, a 0:14:38.520 --> 0:14:41.880 George's story, a Cramer story, and a Laine's story. This 0:14:42.040 --> 0:14:44.280 is a Frank story, this is a fifth story. There's 0:14:44.320 --> 0:14:46.880 no way it'll survive the editing process. So I comforted 0:14:46.920 --> 0:14:49.000 myself by saying, it'll. 0:14:48.800 --> 0:14:49.440 All be fine. 0:14:49.720 --> 0:14:51.640 They're just gonna snip it around the edges and then 0:14:51.640 --> 0:14:54.440 they'll they'll come to their senses. They'll come to their senses. 0:14:54.440 --> 0:14:56.480 And they realized, no, we don't want to do this 0:14:56.640 --> 0:14:59.400 to the show. The show does not deserve this, America 0:14:59.440 --> 0:15:02.120 does not deserve this. But as it turned out, somehow 0:15:02.480 --> 0:15:05.200 they edited thirteen and a half minutes out of it. 0:15:05.400 --> 0:15:08.040 That that's how long it was, and they need to 0:15:08.200 --> 0:15:11.320 actually fit together in a way that made sense and 0:15:11.600 --> 0:15:16.920 was watchable. And I've was surprised. And it's a testament 0:15:17.000 --> 0:15:19.080 to the editors and to the talent of the gentleman 0:15:19.160 --> 0:15:22.920 I mentioned, and Jerry's vision steering the show and as 0:15:23.000 --> 0:15:25.880 always and and uh oh man, if you remember shooting 0:15:25.880 --> 0:15:28.040 that scene the festive dinners. 0:15:27.880 --> 0:15:30.120 Around the table. What I remember vividly. 0:15:30.240 --> 0:15:33.880 I think there's probably I think this is available online 0:15:33.880 --> 0:15:36.960 on bloopers, but I can't remember the reason why. But 0:15:37.080 --> 0:15:39.840 Julia looked pretty draggled by the time she got to 0:15:39.960 --> 0:15:43.480 the table, I think, like her hair was all matted down, and. 0:15:44.520 --> 0:15:47.920 It was to parallel the girl who looked good in 0:15:47.960 --> 0:15:49.880 One Life exactly. 0:15:50.240 --> 0:15:54.240 And there was this kind of unsavory looking guy who 0:15:54.400 --> 0:15:58.600 was hitting on her at the table and he said 0:15:58.640 --> 0:16:03.600 something about you look great, and in total Julia Elaine fashion, 0:16:03.680 --> 0:16:08.720 she goes, huh, thanks. She was like hell as much 0:16:08.720 --> 0:16:12.160 as Julia could ever look like hel and she couldn't 0:16:12.200 --> 0:16:12.680 get through it. 0:16:13.000 --> 0:16:13.360 She could. 0:16:13.520 --> 0:16:15.360 The guy's face was so great. He was one of 0:16:15.400 --> 0:16:18.120 those great characters that they always found. And he did 0:16:18.200 --> 0:16:20.320 it perfectly. He did it like right on the edge 0:16:20.360 --> 0:16:25.080 of you know, you know, child rapist. And it was 0:16:25.720 --> 0:16:28.240 she just and that and we did take after take 0:16:28.280 --> 0:16:32.480 and then then you know, God rest them. Jerry Stiller 0:16:32.520 --> 0:16:35.280 would get up and start going, I got a lot 0:16:35.320 --> 0:16:38.040 of problems with your papa, and that we were That 0:16:38.200 --> 0:16:38.920 was it, we were done. 0:16:39.040 --> 0:16:40.400 I remember a couple of things. First of all, the 0:16:40.400 --> 0:16:43.120 guy you're talking about, he he was a he did 0:16:43.160 --> 0:16:45.920 a him all access show in New York City, I 0:16:46.000 --> 0:16:49.080 think out of Brooklyn, in which he reviewed pornography. He 0:16:49.240 --> 0:16:52.240 was an actual like like, he was exactly who you 0:16:52.280 --> 0:16:54.040 think he would be, and he played that perfectly. I 0:16:54.080 --> 0:16:57.000 remember another thing which at the beginning, I remember, I 0:16:57.040 --> 0:17:00.800 remember all of you breaking everybody. Yeah, but at the 0:17:00.880 --> 0:17:03.240 very beginning, I think Julius said somebody to Jerry, like, 0:17:03.840 --> 0:17:05.200 we get this in one take, I'll give you a 0:17:05.240 --> 0:17:08.480 million dollars something like that, and needless to say, it 0:17:08.600 --> 0:17:10.360 took eight hours. 0:17:10.920 --> 0:17:12.760 She personally made sure that we weren't going to get 0:17:12.760 --> 0:17:16.240 an I think I think it took eight hours, yeah, wow, 0:17:16.400 --> 0:17:17.040 to get the table. 0:17:17.160 --> 0:17:19.760 And I think that the guy that we're talking about, 0:17:19.920 --> 0:17:23.600 the kind of you know, borderline. 0:17:23.080 --> 0:17:25.600 Personality Colin's sleazy friend. 0:17:28.359 --> 0:17:30.440 I think the guy who played his cohort on the 0:17:30.520 --> 0:17:36.720 show turned out to be Tracy LED's esteemed actor author employer. 0:17:37.200 --> 0:17:40.000 Putt surprise, So let me ask you a big question 0:17:40.080 --> 0:17:42.480 to clear something up that's been out there forever. So 0:17:43.359 --> 0:17:47.880 when people celebrate festivals, they try and emulate the meal, 0:17:48.000 --> 0:17:51.320 but nobody can actually figure out there are no clear shot. 0:17:51.320 --> 0:17:53.800 People tried to freeze frame it and whatever. So I've 0:17:53.800 --> 0:17:55.720 read about this portrayal. They're trying to figure it out. 0:17:55.760 --> 0:17:58.000 So what they do is they get Bopka from one episode, 0:17:58.040 --> 0:18:01.320 they get bagels from their marbles. But there are reports 0:18:01.359 --> 0:18:03.280 that there was let us with what looked to be 0:18:03.480 --> 0:18:07.000 meal out on it on the table. What was do 0:18:07.080 --> 0:18:09.080 you do you? Does anybody know what the meal was 0:18:09.359 --> 0:18:10.280 in the sign phone. 0:18:10.080 --> 0:18:13.160 Episode on the show. I'm pretty sure it was meat loaf. Yeah, 0:18:14.240 --> 0:18:16.080 cleared it up for every there was a there was 0:18:16.119 --> 0:18:19.040 a disagreeable, suspect looking meat loaf that was carved up 0:18:19.080 --> 0:18:20.680 before the scene and put on everyone's plate. 0:18:20.760 --> 0:18:23.800 There you go, I think, yeah, because nobody can identify 0:18:23.920 --> 0:18:26.399 for sure when they celebrate festivals at home, so they 0:18:26.920 --> 0:18:29.920 emulate by by by grabbing from different episodes. Like I said, 0:18:29.920 --> 0:18:31.920 the Bopka, et cetera for the meal. But you just 0:18:32.000 --> 0:18:34.320 cleaned it up. Now people who have festiv it's meat 0:18:34.359 --> 0:18:36.720 loaf on lettuce. Oh my god, I. 0:18:36.720 --> 0:18:39.240 Mean the real thing was it was whatever the whatever 0:18:39.320 --> 0:18:40.800 we were having for dinner. It was usually you know, 0:18:40.800 --> 0:18:42.560 it was a holiday, So my mom made like a 0:18:42.680 --> 0:18:43.359 chicken or something. 0:18:43.440 --> 0:18:47.760 But what was the fallout from the episode within your family? 0:18:50.320 --> 0:18:52.760 My mom was real afraid to tell me Dad. Uh, 0:18:54.040 --> 0:18:55.879 Mark thought it was hilarious because he was not going 0:18:55.920 --> 0:18:57.520 to get hit by any of the bullback. It was 0:18:57.560 --> 0:19:02.200 all falled on me. My other brother didn't want any 0:19:02.240 --> 0:19:04.200 part of it. Uh, And then it came out and 0:19:04.240 --> 0:19:06.400 I had to tell my dad. At first he didn't understand, 0:19:06.960 --> 0:19:10.800 and then he got real mad like like like yeah, 0:19:10.920 --> 0:19:12.760 like we're very briefly like and he by that point 0:19:12.760 --> 0:19:14.240 he was slowing down. There wasn't so much of the 0:19:14.320 --> 0:19:18.120 throwing stuff mad level left, but he was very exercised. 0:19:18.720 --> 0:19:22.720 But then he saw it and he kind of liked it. 0:19:22.960 --> 0:19:25.440 And then people, you know, the reviews started coming. He 0:19:25.480 --> 0:19:29.760 started and then he immediately became insufferably smug and thought 0:19:29.840 --> 0:19:34.080 that that episode retroactively justified every poor choice he'd never 0:19:34.160 --> 0:19:38.400 made his entire life. He was, Oh, he was thrilled. 0:19:38.440 --> 0:19:40.200 He was over the moon. He was over the moon. 0:19:40.640 --> 0:19:44.600 So you would tell people, I'm thest shut him up. 0:19:45.600 --> 0:19:49.280 Ben and Jerry's made uh like a flavor. It was 0:19:49.359 --> 0:19:56.120 like burnt shirt caramel and Christmas Eve type flavors. And Uh. 0:19:56.880 --> 0:19:58.720 They sent a poster and my dad framed it and 0:19:58.840 --> 0:20:01.560 insisted on like hanging on the wall the kitchen in 0:20:01.600 --> 0:20:04.639 a place where it really didn't fit. So he was 0:20:04.720 --> 0:20:09.240 he was for the last do the last decade and 0:20:09.280 --> 0:20:10.280 a half of his life. For more. 0:20:10.800 --> 0:20:14.960 Could not have been prouder. Could Speaking of the ice cream. 0:20:15.040 --> 0:20:17.480 So I just you know, I went online and I 0:20:17.600 --> 0:20:22.480 went to just Amazon and typed in Festivus related things, 0:20:22.640 --> 0:20:25.520 and here's what came up. Lots of poles, you know, 0:20:25.680 --> 0:20:28.320 by a Festivus pole, there's a board game. There were 0:20:28.400 --> 0:20:33.439 fireplace stockings, sweaters, mugs, treo ornaments, playing cards, t shirts, 0:20:33.520 --> 0:20:36.080 refrigerator magnets, and the ice cream flavor. 0:20:37.359 --> 0:20:45.359 Do you ever see anything from any of that? No? 0:20:46.280 --> 0:20:52.800 No, I mean no, no, I mean look, as far 0:20:52.880 --> 0:20:54.800 as I know in the context of the show, the 0:20:55.520 --> 0:20:58.360